PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK: Trip will mark a trip back in time for Belichick

Friday

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was a 23-year-old coaching assistant with the Baltimore Colts when Hall of Famer Walter Payton made his NFL debut at Solder Field in 1975.

FOXBORO – It will be a trip – and a trip back in time – for Bill Belichick.

The Patriots' head coach was a 23-year-old fresh out of Wesleyan University, breaking in to the NFL as a special assistant on Ted Marchibroda’s Baltimore Colts staff, on Sept. 21, 1975, the day Walter Payton, the Chicago Bears’ first-round pick in that year’s draft (fourth overall out of Jackson State), made his NFL debut with an utterly forgettable performance.

The Colts held Payton without a yard on eight carries and threw him for a 4-yard loss on the one pass he caught in a 35-7 rout of the Bears at Soldier Field.

Who knew that this would be the running back the football world would come to know as “Sweetness,” a Pro Football Hall of Famer who would retire as a seven-time All-Pro, piling up 16,726 yards rushing over 13 seasons (including 77 100-yard games) while scoring 125 total touchdowns?

“Plenty of them,” Belichick answered when asked his memories of the Bears’ home on Friday. “Walter Payton’s first game.”

Opened on Oct. 9, 1924, as Municipal Grant Park Stadium, the facility’s name was changed to Soldier Field on Nov. 11, 1925, as a memorial to U.S. soldiers who had been killed in combat. The structure underwent a major renovation process in 2002.

“It’s a great environment,” said Belichick. “It’s a lot different now obviously. It’s hard to even recognize Soldier Field as Solder Field certainly from the inside. But it’s a big expansive structure like JFK (John F. Kennedy Stadium) in Philly or The (Los Angeles Memorial) Coliseum. You don’t see those stadiums anymore. Yeah, pretty special place.”

Belichick and his Patriots (4-2) will visit Soldier Field this weekend for a 1 o’clock kickoff with the Bears (3-2) on Sunday afternoon.

Cannon ruled out: The Patriots have ruled offensive tackle Marcus Cannon (concussion) out of the game.

Ten Patriots are listed as questionable, including tight end Rob Gronkowski, who in addition to a preexisting problem with his ankle now has a back ailment.

A Harvard man: Bears backup tight end Ben Braunecker played his college ball for Silver Lake Regional High School product Tim Murphy at Harvard, catching 68 passes for 1,168 yards and 10 touchdowns from 2012-2015.

A blocking tight end, the 6-foot-4, 252-pound Braunecker caught four passes for 41 yards in 13 games with the Bears in 2016 but hasn’t caught a pass in the 13 games (five this season) he’s played since his rookie year.

Murphy, a 1974 graduate of Silver Lake, is currently in his 25th season as the Crimson’s head coach, incidentally.

Six in a row: The Patriots’ defense enters Sunday’s game with the Bears with eight interceptions this year, at least one in each of its six games to date.

The team record for most games to start the season with at least one interception is 11 set by the 1985 Patriots, who went to Super Bowl XX where, coincidentally enough, they got buried by the Bears, 46-10.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.